Whitehorse, Cyndi Lauper also release new music

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on May 6: Captain America: Civil War

Big picture: Poor DC Comics. They tried to raise the bar with Batman v. Superman, and now Marvel comes along and smashes the bar with the force of 1,000 Thor hammers. “I’ll see your feuding heroes, and raise it by … ALMOST every character we’ve ever created.” Captain America: Civil War closely follows Avengers: Age of Ultron, and finds the enemy within the team. Collateral damage from superpower antics has led to a push for accountability, registration and unmasking of heroes. Captain America (con) and Iron Man (pro) couldn’t see less eye to eye on the subject — and every costumed and caped crusader, or mangy mutant, this side of the universe takes a side. It also introduces enough new characters, like the Black Panther, to financially support the descendants of Marvel Studios’ execs until the end of time. (Given the current slate of expected superhero films, Robert Downey Jr. can make geriatric cameos as Iron Man until he’s 120). BTW: New Spidey, Tom Holland, also makes his first web sling in this one.

Forecast: Civil War will hit the box office like a blast of gamma radiation and smash the competition like the Hulk. I predict the Civil War trend will take off, infecting other franchises and biopics. It won’t be long before these films hit the theatre: The Wiggles: Civil War, Minions 2: Civil War, One Direction: Civil War, Meet the Parents Civil War: Fockers vs. Byrnes, Indiana Jones vs. Han Solo: Civil War To Make Harrison Ford Super Rich.

Michael Weston stars in Houdini & Doyle [Global/Corus]

TV

Big event: Houdini & Doyle (May 2, Global/Fox)

Big picture: “Believe the unbelievable.” Not quite as catchy as “the truth is out there”, but I guess it works. Houdini & Doyle is The X-Files meets Sherlock meets The Prestige meets Penny Dreadful. “Death isn’t the end,” Houdini (the Mulder of the duo) exclaims. Michael Weston plays the titular illusionist, while Stephen Mangan plays his real-life friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the man who created Sherlock Holmes). Not surprisingly, this duo also work for Scotland Yard to investigate “unsolvable” crimes — only typically of the supernatural variety. This one is from Canadian David Shore, the creator of House — who based his medical drama’s House-Wilson dynamic on Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Clearly, he has a one-track mind.

Forecast: Abracadabra! Houdini & Doyle has the potential to spellbind. But as with so many televised escapes, this drama about the famed escape artist needs to bring its grand finale material early. (For the record, I would have preferred a show called Houdini vs. David Blaine: Civil War.)

Honourable mention: Marseille (May 5, Netflix). It’s The Godfather meets House of Cards meets a touch of Spin City. The titular French port city is torn apart by a cutthroat race for mayor. Gérard Depardieu plays the bad-ass incumbent instead of a buffoon. (Too bad for him life doesn’t imitate art.) But seriously, this could be Depardieu’s “McConaissance.” A Depardievival? Remember, I coined it here first.

Big picture: This effortlessly talented Canadian duo is a permanent musical destination for lovers of superb songcraft. Whitehorse’s latest project finds them adding a northern chill to classic southern blues by putting their own stamp on 1950s, 12-bar electric blues from the Chess and Checker era. Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet light a fire under covers such as Nadine by legend Chuck Berry and My Babe by Little Walter. Meanwhile, Cyndi Lauper abandons her True Colors for new colours. Her own late-career renaissance has included blues and musical theatre (the score for the musical Kinky Boots) but here she puts on her country hat. Lauper reinterprets country classics by the likes of Wanda Jackson and Patsy Cline. Why wait for a late career branch out? I predict younger acts should get ahead of the curve: Nickelback will make an activist folk album, Drake will make a polka album (Accordion Bling), and Justin Bieber will become a bluesman. His first single: The Sorry Baby Boyfriend Blues.

Forecast: Feeling blue never felt so good. At this point, Whitehorse should be given carte blanche to cover any song off any album in any decade.

Honourable mention: Keith Urban (Ripcord); Goo Goo Dolls (Boxes). Urban is country royalty, but can even he pull of a track entitled John Cougar, John Deere and John 3:16? (This is his ninth studio album; maybe he’s testing the nine lives concept?) Meanwhile, given the title, I assume this Goo Goo Dolls album is about the dusty place where most of us abandoned our collection of their albums.